Eighteen wardens at “Britain’s most comfortable prison” have been sacked for having illegal affairs with inmates

18 wardens at “Britain’s most comfortable prison” have been sacked for having illegal affairs with inmates.

Figures discovered in Freedom of Information requests revealed the ties have taken place at HMP Berwyn, Britain’s largest prison, for the past six years.

The information follows three of the women who ended up on trial at Wrexham prison in north Wales after the illegal links.

Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, blamed hiring the “wrong kind of women” for the relationships.

He told the Mirror: “Staff who are hired don’t have face-to-face interviews… it’s all done on Zoom.

Eighteen wardens at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham, North Wales, a Category C prison, have been sacked for having illegal affairs with inmates

Ex-prison officer Jennifer Gavan (left) has been sentenced to eight months after smuggling a cellphone into prison for her lover Alex Coxon (right). She sent Coxon intimate messages and photos through Snapchat

“Many people who get these jobs don’t have enough life experience and are vulnerable to prisoner conditioning.

“Your figures only prove what we have been warning employers about for years.”

Among the guards found guilty of starting relationships with prisoners at the £250million super prison, which houses Category C adult male offenders, were Jennifer Gavan, 27, Ayshea Gunn, 27, and Emily Watson ( 26).

Most recently, Gavan was jailed for eight months in December following her relationship with 25-year-old prisoner Alex Coxon.

She had sent intimate photos of herself to prisoner Coxon on Snapchat and kissed him during the relationship between April and July 2020.

She also smuggled a cell phone behind bars for Coxon.

Gavan, from Llay, Wrexham, publicly pleaded guilty to misconduct at Mold Crown Court after accepting £150 to bring in the mobile phone.

The relationship came just a year after colleague Ayshea Gunn, 27, had an affair with “dangerous” inmate Khuram Razaq, 29.

Prison officer Ayshea Gunn (left) was sentenced to a year in prison at Mold Crown Court in 2019 after having an affair with dangerous criminal Khuram Razaq (right) at HMP Berwyn in North Wales

Emily Watson, left, was jailed for a year after performing a sex act with inmate John McGee

A search of Gunn’s bedroom revealed snaps of the couple kissing and hugging, as well as cellphone photos taken in his cell. She was then jailed in Mold Crown Court for a year in 2019.

26-year-old officer Emily Watson was sentenced to a year in prison in April 2019 by the same court for sexually assaulting an inmate in his cell.

Given Watson’s spending so much time in prison with John McGee, staff soon became suspicious and launched an investigation.

Mold Crown Court heard they had been alone in his cell three times when she engaged in a sex act with him twice and had intercourse once.

The 2,100-strong prison’s inmates also have outdoor parking spaces that they can use

A cell at HMP Berwyn in a 2017 photograph – all rooms have telephones for outgoing calls

About 31 women officers in England and Wales have been sacked for inappropriate relationships since 2019, according to Department of Justice statistics.

Staff at the prison, which opened in 2017, have now had to undergo mandatory new training to address such issues at the 2,100-capacity prison.

The prison, previously dubbed “Britain’s most comfortable prison” by one MP, offers inmates access to a wide range of education and training services, professional qualifications, access to a full-size gymnasium, weight and gym room and outdoor courts, as well as to various methods of communicating with friends and family in the outside world.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice’s Corrections Service said: “The vast majority of Corrections Service staff are hardworking and honest, but we are doing more than ever to catch the small number who break the rules.”

MailOnline has reached out to the Prison Officers’ Association for comment.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk